Vila Boa de Goias was an administrative and political urban center with jurisdiction over a large region during the eighteenth century. Up till the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was the only town (vila) of Goias State, whose territory was sprinkled with many settlements, (arraiais), forming a network of small urban centers. Without the status of imperial vila, these arraiais bowed before the power of Vila Boa de Goias especially when it came to economic and political issues. In this context, what interests us most in this article is to analyze the strategies used by one urban center in being able to dominate and to guarantee the conditions and the rights to overlap its own interests upon the interests of other urban centers. Transformed into an important attraction of the local elites, this privileged political condition was the aim of great efforts and intense devotion among the municipal authorities to safeguard Vila Boa's superiority over the existent arraiais located near the mines of Goias.
Local Power; Colonial Town; Urban Network; Portuguese Empire